As of Monday morning, approximately 35 Arkansas County residents had voted early in the Democratic Preferential Primary Run-off.

“Voters who did not vote in the May preferential primary may vote,” Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin said. “Voters who only voted in the nonpartisan judicial election may vote. Or voters may vote in the runoff of the party in which they originally voted.”

Arkansas County Deputy County Clerk Melissa Wood said anyone who voted on the Democrat ballot on May 22 can vote in the runoff. However, any resident who voted in the Republican primary is not eligible to vote in the Democratic runoff between U.S. Congress District 1 candidates Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington of Jonesboro and Clark M. Hall of Marvell.

In Arkansas County, Hall led the May 22 preferential primary and nonpartisan judicial general election with 578 votes while Ellington had 389 votes and a third contender, Gary Latanich, had 124 votes. However overall, Ellington had 49.51 percent of the votes in District 1 with 27,890 votes compared to Hall’s 21,840 votes and Latanich’s 6,598 votes. Ellington fell short of the majority needed to win the nomination.

Arkansans have had a week to vote early in the run-off election and Monday is the last day to cast a ballot before Election Day. Ballots can still be cast early from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today at the Arkansas County courthouses in DeWitt and Stuttgart.

On Tuesday, Election Day, the polls will open at 7:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. Ballot counting will start at 7:30 p.m. Residents will cast ballots at the Almyra Community Center, 107 S. Elizabeth; Arkansas County Fairgrounds Exhibit Building, 1000 Liberty Dr. in DeWitt; Gillett City Hall, 209 W. Main; Humphrey City Hall, 113 S. Division; St. Charles City Hall, 608 Broadway; and Grand Prairie Center, 2709 Hwy. 165 S in Stuttgart.

Overall, Arkansas County has 19,019 residents with 9,099 registered to vote in the upcoming election. On May 22, 1,897 ballots were cast. It was a 20.86 percent voter turnout.

For more information, call the Arkansas County Clerk’s Office in DeWitt at (870) 946-4349 or Stuttgart at (870) 673-7311.